


True Love Way

by billypools



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 10:36:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8529784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/billypools/pseuds/billypools
Summary: Frank Delfino really, really didn't wanna have to go into this coffee shop filled with kids but he was desperate for a hit of caffeine, and once he got up to that counter and saw the most incredible barista in his life, he was pretty glad he had.It's a shame he made a complete jackass of himself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> ALL RIGHTS, ETC. ARE TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF ANY CREATIVE CONTENT/CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR AS SUCH. (e.g. I do not own the characters of Frank/Laurel/etc.) 
> 
> AU in regards to: Frank is not a murderer; Annalise is actually kinda nice, and in a long term relationship with Eve; Bonnie is Annalise’s law partner.

Opening the door to Ralph’s, the clamorous calls and laughter of kids who had just got out of school filled his ears. Frank Delfino hadn’t wanted to get his regular caffeine hit at this time of day – he knew it’d be packed, and he didn’t fancy ducking and diving ‘round all these kids - but when that need hit him, it hit him hard. With a heavy sigh, he made his way to the back of the open room, small tables and soft cushioned armchairs filling the space, with the sweet smell of freshly ground beans filling his senses as he went. Joining the back of a pretty long queue, he heaved yet another sigh and slid his phone out of his blazer pocket, deciding to give his brother Nicky a call. It only had to ring a couple times before Nicky answered.

“Hey, Nicky, what’s happening?”

“Frankie! I’ve missed hearing from you, bro! It’s going fuckin’ awesome, Sofia’s walking and talking and all that shit now, it’s insane. I can’t believe she’s almost three already.” Nicky went from excited, to loved-up, to morose in less than two seconds when he got talking about his little girl.

Shit, Frank thought. It’s been way too long since he’d seen his brother and his niece and he really had no excuse except that he was so bogged down with working for Annalise and then sleeping and then working for Annalise and then sleeping and…

“She’s talking!? Nicky you jackass, I can’t believe you didn’t let me know!”

“Man, are you playing? I haven’t seen you in about a year! It’s no fuckin’ wonder you don’t know shit. Always workin’. Doubt Sofia’d even know who you are!” Nicky cried out, chuckling as he finished.

Frank knew that Nicky meant no harm with that final barb, but it definitely stung. He didn’t know how he’d managed to let it go so long without a proper visit to see them all, especially since Nicky was only living round the corner from Ma and Pa ever since he’d ditched that baby mama of his. 

“Nicky, c’mon man. You know it’s mad wit-”

“Yeah, yeah, Frankie, I know. Annalise this, Bonnie that. When’re you gonna get into an actual relationship with a woman, rather than just work for one?”

“You sound like ‘ma!”

“Y’know it’s true though Frankie! You need yourself a lady in your life. You’re only getting older…”

“I’m 25, Nicky. The prime of life! And older than you!”

“Mhmm. Whatever you say. When’s the last time you even hooked up?”

Uh oh, thought Frank. He honestly could not remember, which was pretty unlike him, as far as Nicky knew. He’d been getting it regularly since he was probably 15 years old, and didn’t Nicky fuckin’ know it. it‘s the only thing that got Frank any respect from his damn little brother back in that house of eight boys, and he didn’t wanna lose that. Shit, he thought, mentally cursing again. It’d been over two months since he’d been with a woman. Well, it ain’t like he doesn’t lie on the regular anyway, he contemplated… it’s just a bit more of that. 

“Must’a been… last Thursday! Yeah, I was down at The 700, brought her back to my place. Y’know the rest.”

“Yeah right. What was her name? What’d she look like?”

Damn it, Nicky was onto him. Frank knew that if he let this one slip he would not be hearing the end of it for a long time. He knew he had to hold up the image of being the ladies man or Nicky’d tell ma that ‘lil Frankie been feeling lonely’ and he’d be set up on another one of those… blind dates. Frank shudders, remembering the horror-show that was the last blind date 'Ma had forced him on. Squaring up his shoulders, he prepared his lie, not even noticing that he’d reached the front of the queue.

“Fuck if I can remember her name! And god knows, she was hot though… huge tits, long dark hair, y’know my type, man.”

“Oh yeah? And what’d she fuck like?”

“Nicky she was so dirty, she did this thing with her tongue, ya don’t even wan-“

“Excuse me, do you want to order a drink or carry on your objectification of women out the way of my next customer?”

Fuck. Frank dropped his gaze from the ceiling that he’d been blindly gazing at as he got sucked into tryna prove something to his damn little brother, catching the eye of the barista at the cash register who’d called him out. Fuck. She looked pretty pissed off, although given the language coming out of his mouth and the amount of ladies and kids about, he couldn’t blame her in the slightest. His cheeks coloured slightly as he realised what he’d done and how he’d still not said a single word.

“Shit- I mean, darn. I’m sorry ‘bout that. Really sorry, babe. I mean, shit, sorry, what’s your name?’”

Frank cringed at himself. It was such a fuckin’ joke that he could handle a deadass lawyer without even blinking, but when he embarrassed himself in public around a pretty girl, he freaked out and couldn’t put a single decent sentence together. And fuck, was this girl pretty. She was more than pretty- beautiful, actually. Stunning. Her dark hair waved gently down her back, just barely brushing against the bow of her back, whilst her eyes were just- Frank couldn’t even think of words to describe them. And her lips! Fuck.

"I don’t think that’s relevant, sir. Do you have an order to make?" She replied coolly, barely even glancing at his face again. He’d really pissed her off. 

"Uh. Fuc- I mean, yeah. I do. Sorry about that, y’know that ain’t what I’m normally like it was just my little broth-"

"Save the bull, thanks. What do you want to drink?"

"Nah please, look," he glanced at her name tag, "Laurel, I’m really tryna apologise here. That wasn’t cool, what I was saying back there. In fact, it was disrespectful and if I could’ve taken it back, I would’a! But I can’t so I’m just here apologising, okay? I’m real fuckin’ sorry."

Laurel. He’s pretty sure it’s a kind of flower, which would add up here. The lady was beautiful and he really, really wanted her to forgive him – maybe he could even get a number out of it. 

She sighed softly, an excuisite sound that made Frank unconsciously lean in slightly, wanting to make sure he caught every word she might bestow upon him. 

"Look, I’m just trying to work my shift, get some money in my pocket and get on with my day. I don’t need to hear the crap you were spouting on your phone, alright? I hear you saying that you didn’t mean it, but that doesn’t make it okay, you still said it. I also don’t really care for your apology. So, what can I get you to drink?"

Jeeeeeeez. He wasn’t gonna be able to help himself here. Better give it up to a lost cause.

‘Just a ‘mericano, thanks.’ Frank muttered, not bothering with trying to apologise any further.

The girl walked off without a glance back to make his drink, and also without asking his name for his drink. Huh.

Frank moved along, busying himself with texting Nicky a quick low-down on why he’d just had to drop the call like that, before checking his emails – three from Annalise, one from Bonnie and one from his ‘Ma with pictures of his newest cousin. He checked through them all briefly before deleting two from Annalise, replying to her other with an affirmative that he’d be able to find who they were looking for, setting a reminder to deal with Bonnie’s later that evening when he had his laptop with him, and saving the pictures from his ‘Ma of little Nico. 

He glanced up to the counter, checking if there were any cups waiting for someone to pick them up, but there were two. Awesome. They both had writing on though, and as Frank stepped forward to take one, another guy jumped in front and managed to grab the one that was his, so Frank went for the other, deciding to at least just check the name in case it was his.

"Misogynistic Asshole" 

Huh, Frank thought. Guess this is probably mine. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the attitude of the girl behind the counter, glancing her way after he’d finished reading it. She had a self-confident smirk on her face as she looked his way, checking that he’d seen her handiwork and fuck, if it wasn’t the hottest thing Frank had seen in months. He coulda cum right then and there with little more help. But whatever, she wasn’t having any of it. He was pretty sure she couldn’t have made herself clearer if she tried, and he was left feeling like the biggest ass in Philly. 

He cast one final glance her way as he started backing up out of the shop, completely entranced by the way her hair fell, the gentle sway of her hips… Get a grip, he thought to himself, wrenching his eyes away and stepping round and about all the kids before finally swinging open the door and letting the little bell ring as he stepped out into the rain. If he’d only glanced back at the counter instead of at the girl, he might’ve noticed that he’d left his phone there and that the one to find it and pop it into her apron was the one and only Miss ‘Misogynistic Asshole’ herself.

**Author's Note:**

> ...and that's the first chapter of my first fic. I'm aiming to be updating on a fairly regular basis, hopefully no longer than 10 days between uploads. Comment and let me know if you enjoyed this opening chapter!


End file.
